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Associated Students UCLA
Board of Directors
Statement on Student Employee Unionization
Since 1919, ASUCLA has been committed to on-campus student employment and development. Employing over 1200 students a year, ASUCLA takes pride in the opportunities we provide for student supervisors to participate in management decisions, and in the promotions and awards we offer to student employees for outstanding performance each year. Additionally, ASUCLA is governed by a student-majority Board, and it is especially important to us that our policies and practices provide all our student employees with a fair workplace environment that helps them to succeed and grow.
A group of students and employees has recently asked the ASUCLA Board of Directors to support the efforts of some ASUCLA student employees to be represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Local 3299.
Although we respect the rights of all our employees to organize under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), the ASUCLA Board of Directors is also legally bound to remain neutral on the issue of unionization. California state law Assembly Bill 1889 restricts management in any unit of the University, from assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing, which means that, by law, we cannot support or oppose the students who would like to join Local 3299.
Furthermore, students are excluded from the UC-AFSCME contract that is currently in place through mutual agreement of the union and the University, and the ASUCLA Board of Directors does not have the authority to change this. Labor contracts at the University of California include employees from all ten UC campuses, and they are negotiated and agreed upon by the UC Office of the President and the respective union. Any requests for modification of existing collective bargaining units, including but not limited to the addition of students, would require a decision by the State of California’s Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) and would need to be consistent with the criteria in the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA). The final decision in the process would be honored by ASUCLA.
While AB 1889 precludes the Board from taking a position on unionization, we have long been committed to listening to and addressing the desires and policy concerns of our student employees. We encourage interested students to educate themselves fully on these matters.
April 20, 2007
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